Sports
Other Sports

World Koshiki Superkaratedo Championships come back to The Forest City

Paul Jackman (left) throws a high kick at Rob Yeoman during an outdoor Koshiki Superkaratedo training session. The longtime martial artists are also organizers of the World Koshiki Superkaratedo Championships coming to London July 29 and 30. (CHRIS MONTANINI, Londoner)

Three years after The Forest City was chosen as an emergency backup host for the 2014 Koshiki Karatedo World Cup, Canadian organizers in London have been awarded the 20th edition of the prestigious hard-contact karate tournament.

These days, the event is being called the World Koshiki Superkaratedo Championships. Koshiki is a form of karate that incorporates body and face armour, allowing students of any style to strike with full force but avoid many of the injuries associated with combat sports.

“The beauty of koshiki competition is it’s open to all martial arts styles,” said Paul Jackman, the upcoming competition’s event chair as well as a local competitor and karate instructor. “It really is and was meant to be a unifier for many martial arts and of course bring safety to the sport as well.”

Jackman is a four-time world lightweight koshiki champion and the captain of Team Canada. He won his most recent title at the 2015 world championships in Australia and teaches Shorinjiryu Kenkokan Karatedo in both London and Toronto.

“Classes are growing,” said Jackman, who has also established a roaming dojo between a trio of local public schools to encourage more youth to try karate. “It ties us into the community which is really one of our big focuses — using koshiki as an education tool to help build strong minds, strong characters, and also to bring people together, to break down barriers so to speak, and bring cultures together.”

Over 100 athletes from 16 different countries will compete at Fanshawe College. The tournament, which features a range of divisions, will include junior competitors for the first time, Jackman said.

Canada has hosted the event three times before — 2014, 2007, and 1987. Unlike in 2014 when organizers were scrambling to pull off the event on short notice, Jackman said he’ll be competing this year for a fifth championship.

“We’ve had pretty much a full year of getting this ready,” he said. “All the teams are planning to come so we have some really top world-class competitors coming to test themselves here in London. It’s going to be an awesome tournament.”